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Bulls 101, Wizards 99

The Wiz played most of the game with only eight guys but really put up a fight thanks mostly to strong efforts from Antawn Jamison and Javaris Crittenton but once again they came up short.

As usual, the third quarter really hurt as the Bulls outscored the Wiz 33-20 and built a 10-point lead that the WIzards spend the rest of the game chasing.

The play that clinched the game came with 8.9 seconds left. The Bulls led 98-96 after a JaVale McGee dunk off a nice pass from Dominic McGuire when Derrick Rose drove around a double team consisting of Crittenton and McGee, sucked in the defense and found a cutting Kirk Hinrich for an easy lay up before the Wiz could rotate to him. Great offense plus bad defense equaled another Wiz loss.

-Really loved Critttenton's attacking style and his final line: 18 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists with no turnovers. He and Rose really went at it for stretches. Rose has serious work to do on that jumper but he's killer on the pick-and-roll and tonight, he killed the Wizards on it.

-After the game interim coach Ed Tapscott said that Caron Butler, who missed his sixth straight game, could possibly be out up to another week on that tight left hamstring. I'll get an update on Darius Songaila (neck), Juan Dixon (Achilles) and the other guys tomorrow at practice.

Comments

Crit was fantastic tonight - appalling he doesn't play more minutes because MJames is an offense killer. AJ had a good, not great night - 34 pts, but on 44% FG, & had 0 Asst in 40 minutes - how is that possible? And how does McGuire play 40+ minutes with 0 pts? I really like his D, but jeeze, that's horrific.

Posted by: BulletsFan1 | March 23, 2009 11:07 PM

Agreed....at this point why isn't Crittenden starting? Mike James is not the future, Javaris is!

What is the deal with this team...pretty soon we are gonna have to forfeit games for not having enough players that can suit up! Les Curse o'boulez continues.

Can't wait to see how Arenas looks on the floor on Saturday.

Posted by: azinat1 | March 23, 2009 11:19 PM

"And how does McGuire play 40+ minutes with 0 pts? I really like his D, but jeeze, that's horrific.

Posted by: BulletsFan1"

Obviously DM needs to work on his shooting ability, but don't be so consumed by his point total. Once again he led the team in assists (7 tonight with only 1 turnover). Right now, he basically runs the point when Crit isn't in the game with him. Pretty impressive feat for a 6'9 guy who was thought to be useless on the offensive end of the court coming into this season. He continues to be the most impressive youngster, if not player overall, on the team this year.

Posted by: psps23 | March 23, 2009 11:38 PM

"And how does McGuire play 40+ minutes with 0 pts? I really like his D, but jeeze, that's horrific."

It would be horrific if he went 0 for 17 from the field and turned the ball over 9 times. But he went 0-3 from the field and turned it over once against 7 assists with 7 rebounds. Any points he puts up are gravy. He's not in the game to score. There are other ways to impact the game other than points.

Posted by: kalo_rama | March 24, 2009 12:08 AM

Butler will be out another WEEK!!!

What is wrong with the training staff?!?!!

How many guys are going to come back too early for someone to get fired!

Why the F was Blatche on the bench at the end? I like McGee and all, but McGee was terrible vs the Bulls and Blatche was the best player on the floor at times. Absurd. What happened to earning playing time?

Posted by: UltimateFootballNetwork | March 24, 2009 12:27 AM

Kill Gill Vol.2

Posted by: jeremydvid | March 24, 2009 12:51 AM

CB is pretty much useless after about the 60th game. Mr. October. I predict the Wiz will not resign him.

Posted by: bj2000 | March 24, 2009 6:49 AM

In addition to not knowing how to develop the most promising young players, the Wiz don't know how to manage injuries - before and after the fact. Look at Butler's minutes after returning from the hamstring pull. Heck, they even started Etan in preseason after missing a year with open heart surgery. And they think McGee, Blatche and Young are goofballs....

Posted by: Izman | March 24, 2009 7:18 AM

Hard to work up much enthusiasm for a game at this point, but the Wiz didn't play badly, and it may be worth noting they're still playing hard. Maybe that counts as something of an achievement.

Posted by: Samson151 | March 24, 2009 9:01 AM

BulletsFan1, I happen to agree with you, I like DM but playing with him on offense is akin to playing 4 on 5 sometimes. There seems to be a dbl standard for DM fans here. If NY scores 20 and has 1 assist, he's vilified for playing no defense or not passing while a scoreless DM gets praise for doing 'other things' besides scoring.
Fact is, DM needs to score some points just as badly as NY needs to pass and play defense. Same with Jamison and his 34 with 0 assists.

DM is a very good all around player. Before anyone starts talking about me hating, I was one of the guys who wanted to draft him and kept mentioning that he had more triple dbls in college than any other guy out there that year. I like what DM brings to the table but he oughtta learn how to shoot. It's the most basic skill kids learn.

Posted by: original_mark | March 24, 2009 9:23 AM

...but on the flip side...

Next year if GA, AJ and CB return to their high scoring ways, what DM is doing now might be good enough. Rodman scored infrequently but did 'other things' because he had scorers around him. I'm not comparing us to the old Bulls but the concept is the same...play D while scorers score.

Posted by: original_mark | March 24, 2009 9:25 AM

Original_Mark / BulletsFan1 One thing to remember re DM's low scoring the past few games is that he has been running the offence much of the time, which takes him away from the boards where he used to pick up 2-3 baskets on put-backs each game. When he is back at the 3 spot, I expect that he will score more of those types of points.

Posted by: pk24 | March 24, 2009 9:33 AM

A Note to BJ2000: CB is probably fustrated as are all the Wizards who give a rat's azz about this season gone wrong, now lets see........... we've got a coach who don't know sh#t from shineola, a Gm who blew off the "real coach"(Eddie Jordan) and proceeded to mismanage the cap by overpaying Gil and AJ,then he sends Roger Mason Jr to San Antonio over a small amount of money doesn't improve the roster one iota,just look at Cleve. with Mo Williams,Atlanta with Flip Murray, you don't think if we had a real GM we might have been a playoff team this season? Hell! if we had kept Mason we might be in the Eighth spot,I don't blame Caron one bit he is a professional and we are running this franchise like a D-league team. Eddie Jordan must be laughing his azz off right now while counting his eight million. Thanks Ernie!!!

Posted by: dargregmag | March 24, 2009 9:51 AM

"Fact is, DM needs to score some points just as badly as NY needs to pass and play defense."

Completely untrue. Young needs to play defense and pass because, when his shot's not falling he needs to be able to do something else to contribute. Right now all he does is score and if that's not working he's useless. McGuire does a multitude of things to contribute besides scoring already. He defends, rebounds, handles the ball on the break, sets up teammates, blocks shots, gets steals, and sometimes scores. If one or two of his assets aren't working in a game, he's got plenty more to fall back on. Young doesn't.

Again, McGuire only took three shots, so it's not like he was shooting them out of the game with bricks. He wasn't looking to score because either the opportunities weren't there or that's not what they needed from him in this game. They scored 99 in regulation, so it's not like the offense was struggling without McGuire filling it up.

Posted by: kalo_rama | March 24, 2009 10:20 AM

I have to say that it kills me that even after having 15 points in 31 minutes, Blatche still gets no love from Wiz fans or even in any game articles. Yea he has his moments on the court where you want to shake your head and ask "why??", but he played great last night and still gets no mention....
I agree that Jamison and Crittenton had amazing nights last night, but so did AB. It killed me to see him sitting on the bench at the end of the 4th.

Posted by: mallorygrauer | March 24, 2009 10:26 AM

They scored 99 in regulation, so it's not like the offense was struggling without McGuire filling it up.

But if we'd scored a few more points, we'd have won. Maybe it doesn't matter this year but in the future, 0 points won't cut it no matter what else he does.

Posted by: original_mark | March 24, 2009 10:37 AM

Blatche was horrid in the first few mintues of Q4, so he was deservedly yanked.

Why is it that we are always out of timeouts at a close game's end, ETap? One more and we may very well have won last night.

Antawn and Crittenton had great Q4's last night. Good to see that at least a couple still care.

Posted by: rbelleisle | March 24, 2009 10:48 AM

"The play that clinched the game came with 8.9 seconds left. The Bulls led 98-96 after a JaVale McGee dunk off a nice pass from Dominic McGuire when Derrick Rose drove around a double team consisting of Crittenton and McGee, sucked in the defense and found a cutting Kirk Hinrich for an easy lay up before the Wiz could rotate to him. "

Another opponent's play involving McGee, The double team left McGee's man open, so McGuire had to guard him download, which led James to guard two players, Salmon (McGuire's guy) and Hinrich. James chose Salmon, who parked on 3 pt line, and left Hinrich free path to the lane.

Posted by: sagaliba | March 24, 2009 11:19 AM

Pech actually played somewhat decent in the last few games. Wonde why he didn't get more minutes?

Posted by: sagaliba | March 24, 2009 11:24 AM

"But if we'd scored a few more points, we'd have won. Maybe it doesn't matter this year but in the future, 0 points won't cut it no matter what else he does.

Posted by: original_mark | March 24, 2009 10:37 AM"

Obviously McGuire can afford to improve his shot. Nobody is saying he's perfect. But in a game where Javale McGee went 1 for 7, Nick Young went 2 for 12, and James went 3 for 9, complaining about Dominic McGuire going 0 for 3 while dishing out 7 assists is the last thing that would be on my mind, especially considering all 3 of the guys mentioned before are designed to play a much larger scoring role in this system.

Posted by: psps23 | March 24, 2009 11:36 AM

I think Butler breaks down precisely because of too many minutes. A blogger asked did anyone notice how Caron always loses time to injury since he's been here?

He has and Butler may be more aptly used as the prominent role player he is. Few players can withstand major minutes game after game.

These are the exceptional players. And exceptional in this case does not mean great players, it means the health and durability of some players may be greater than others.

Luck or lack of it also plays a part. Gilbert Arenas believe it or not is such a player. Bad luck too him down and if I am correct about him being such a player and if his knee is completely healed his durability will be evident in the years to come.

Medically, when a person chews it causes a reaction in the mouth all the way down to the stomach. Chewing sets the body for digestion and I asked this once before, but did not get a response.

Would anyone believe besides me that chewing on straw while playing basketball eventually has a negative effect on the body?

Caron, or any player for that matter should only use a mouthpiece while playing.

Any medical knowledge out there?

LarryInClintonMD.

Posted by: LarryInClintonMD | March 24, 2009 11:58 AM

McGee was 0 for 6 before the last dunk, and did not grab a single defensive rebound (one offensive rebound for the game)!

We need a good big-men coach (and hopefully McGee is receptive), otherwise McGee's talent will be wasted!

Posted by: sagaliba | March 24, 2009 12:20 PM

I think most of us here like what DM brings to the table. I guess I should be past the point of debating about individual games since we're 16 and whatever.

To piggyback on another comment...Pech seems to bring something positive every time he plays. He gets his hands on a lot of balls (no pun intended) and has decent, active hands for a big guy. He also seems to be ok at rebounding.

Again, why he doesn't play on a 16 and whatever team is a complete mystery. Even if it's to showcase him for a trade, he should be getting some time.

Posted by: original_mark | March 24, 2009 12:38 PM

CB3 is undersized at the 3 and has broken down in the second half of the season the last 2 years because he's not cut out to play 40+ minutes a night. The broken hand injury in 2007 was a freak injury, but the last two years were overuse type injuries that were aggravated by him coming back too soon.

One can only hope that the Wiz gets a coach who will monitor his minutes more closely and keep them in the 30-35 range. Second, the Wiz need to hire a competent medical and training staff to properly diagnose injuries and to ensure players rehab properly.

Posted by: wizfan89 | March 24, 2009 1:03 PM

"But if we'd scored a few more points, we'd have won. "

And to lay that at the feet of McGuire is nonsense, esp. when three of the starters who are supposed to be the primary scorers shot a combined 17 of 48.

"Maybe it doesn't matter this year but in the future, 0 points won't cut it no matter what else he does."

Nonsense. First of all, you continue to make it sound like he never scores or can't score, both of which are untrue. Second, in the future, they'll(presumably, hopefully): be getting a big offense boost from Arenas, some more supplemental offense from Haywood, have Butler healthy for a couple of weeks in a row, and (if they're lucky) have a high lottery pick providing some offensive firepower. If anything, on a fully loaded team, McGuire's offense will become even less of a concern.